Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recent loss of test data, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling local Directors of Public Health to run their own test and trace service.

NHS Test and Trace has always been a partnership between local and national Government. Since August, NHS Test and Trace has provided local authorities with dedicated team of contact tracers to work alongside local public health officials to provide a more specialist service. Local public health officials can use the data provided by NHS Test and Trace to follow up with cases, which in some areas has involved local teams and voluntary partners visiting people at home.